Johnson Mesa is a place unto itself. Located
two thousand feet above the valley floor of Raton, it is an island
seven by fourteen miles rising into the sky. The mesa received
its name from a Lige Johnson who lived below the mesa but allowed
his cattle to graze the mesa top. As no one lived on the mesa
at the time, it soon bore the name of Johnson Mesa. In the early
1880s, a railroad construction worker named Marion Bell led a
group of fellow workers up to the mesa top to try their hand
at farming. It was a successful move. Soon, others followed to
become farmers rather than miners. The people of Johnson Mesa
raised potatoes, oats, grain, and other crops and eventually
branched out into cattle ranching. At one time there was a family
living on every 160 acres of land. There were schools, churches
and many recreational facilities for family life. After World
War I, people began leaving the mesa to seek other ways of making
a living. Times were often hard for the mesa people. Winters
were often severe and many times the mesa was snowbound. Today
a few families make their home on the mesa during the summer
but no one lives there during the winter. Still standing is the
St. John Methodist Episcopal Church next the cemetery. Courtesy
Henry Chenoweth.